seriously . . . what IS leadership? why is it such a buzzword these days? and if not everybody can be a leader, why is there such a huge focus on “leadership development”?
I just feel like this is a copout somehow–with more “leadership”, you can have less paid staff . . . you can guilt-trip your kids . . . you can sucker people into doing grunt work that they really didn’t want to do . . .
maybe it’s just me. so how do YOU define “leadership”?
June 13, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Understanding leadership is simple, but the term is thrown around so much it becomes complex. Leadership is defining the purpose, the vision, and providing the resources and support to accomplish the vision. Stephen Covey says it well: Envision a ladder leading against a tall building, and the goal is to get everyone safely to the top of the building. The Manager is the person who coordinates everyone getting up the ladder safely. The Leader is the person who makes sure the ladder is leaning against the right building. Said another way, managers pay attention to HOW things are done; leaders pay attention to WHY things are done.